


Wary

by TheOtherCourse (kanevixen)



Series: The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth [7]
Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Cell Phones, Estrangement, F/M, Long-Distance Relationship, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 06:19:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4294002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanevixen/pseuds/TheOtherCourse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following directly after Lullaby, Tom and Kristiane finally talk through their confusing relationship, and some of the complications they’ve faced with the long distance between them.</p><p>
  <img/>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wary

Encouragingly persistent, Tom took my words and my fears to heart as early as when we clicked off from our long phone discussion. We were finally on the same page after he left to film Thor in Hollywood. Our relationship wasn’t left to him alone, but both of us together. He finally understood that I wasn’t someone he could only go to when it was convenient for him, that my desire for him to be in my life was serious, and something that I held dear. Apparently he had forgotten or disregarded the thing that meant the most to me: friendship.

His text immediately after our phone call read:  _“I suppose my line should be that of Oscar Wilde. ‘Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.’ I’ll text you tomorrow, my Wilde one. – Tom xx”_

 

I couldn’t suppress the smile, the excitement invading my every pore, the elation making me feel giddy. I typed a snappy ‘I told you so’ text, using my go to Wilde:  _“Wilde for Wilde, Shakespeare. ‘Women are made to be loved, not understood’ sir – K”_

_“Noted, my good woman. Borrowing from Wilde once more, ‘Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives’ – Tom xx”_

_“Stop stealing my lines, Shakespeare! Wilde isn’t nearly as prolific as the Bard – K :-P”_

_“I’ll say goodnight with Shakespeare: ‘I do love nothing in the world so well as you – is not that strange?’ – Tom xx”_

I answered his Much Ado About Nothing with Romeo and Juliet. _“’Goodnight, goodnight! Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say good night till it be morrow.’ – K <3”_

_“’What o’clock tomorrow shall I send to thee?’ – Tom xx”_

Another Romeo and Juliet quote, and in that moment, I think I fell even harder for him. He listened, he got it, and he was already acting on it, all the while knocking me off my feet with his education.  _“Anytime it pleases you, sir. <3 <3 – K”_ I was too overcome to quote from any smarter author, my emotions clouding my intellect.

Even more heartening was the gesture he sent the next day. Terry and I were hustling out of our apartment to attempt to get across town to make the 2:00pm dance class before my 5:00pm voice lesson when a delivery man brought two dozen pink lilies. As I let myself back into my apartment to leave the flowers on my dresser by my other gifts from the charming man, Terry followed closely, utterly perplexed by the token of Tom’s affection for me.

I was almost beyond words at the drastic change from the man in California, almost.

“From Matt or Tom?”

I leveled a disapproving look on Terry, narrowing my eyes on him and discouraging the discussion. He was also playing dumb to get me to talk about it, knowing full well that my date with Matt, though not a disaster, was hardly the start of something beautiful or serious. My best friend was also not the type to back down from a verbal or non-verbal back off. “Kitten, my arguments still stand. Is he promising you what you want?”

“Terr, please… drop it. We’re finding our own way in this. It’s not a black or white or gray situation.”

“Sunshine, either he claims you as his love or he doesn’t!”

“No, it’s not as simple as that.”

“Demand it! You’ve put u-“

Incredulously, I firmly stated, holding up a hand in front of me, “Terrence, babe, stop! Whatever happens between Tom and me is just that, between Tom and me.” I forced a smile to show no hard feelings and that I didn’t want this to become an issue between us as friends. “I’m grateful for all you’ve done to bring us together, but it’s now up to Tom and me to find out how we work… as a couple.”

*

“Kristiane.”

That tone. As if his world was coming to an end, his best friend betrayed him, and his childhood pet died all in one day. The broken reedy sound sliced me through and through, and the pain seared straight through me. My eyes filled with tears, sensing exactly was he was calling to tell me.

It was one week after our talk, our harmonious agreement on the nature of our relationship. We spoke nearly every night and traded texts throughout the day, and it had been so uplifting to have Tom back in my life. The lonely shroud of doubt that surrounded me was loosening, and I saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

Until I heard the timber of his voice.

The unexpected and chilling realization hit me full force. Terry and I were watching Moulin Rouge and reading off Trivial Pursuit cards, stumping each other with popular culture questions, the score long forgotten when my phone rang.

“Tom.” He heard the disappointment, the heartbreak, the yearning, the love in that one syllable.

“I’m so sorry.”

“What happened?”

“Woody Allen is shooting in Paris, not New York. I assumed… I’ve been researching, and I just assumed. I’m so sorry.”

I couldn’t keep the tears or the panic quiet. Tom and I were finally working, friends again, looking forward to something more, something greater, and in an instant, I felt that I’d lost all that we’d gained. Tom let me in with the promise that we’d spend time together, and I couldn’t face losing him again. “Tom…”

In his name, he heard all the pain and anguish that I felt. Terry took notice, setting our silly game aside and pausing the DVD player. “Kristie, please don’t cry. I’m so sorry.”

I couldn’t go through the pretending that I didn’t exist and pretending that I didn’t have someone that I loved. The bitter tears of the months I’d already spent without him and the many more ahead of me burned down my cheeks. I burst with the anguish and all the torture he already put me through, “I can’t! I just can’t…”

Wary and defeated, I threw my phone at Terry and ran into my room to get away from it.

*

“What the fuck is going through your gorgeous head, you piece of shit?” I demanded into the phone. Tom and I hadn’t spoken for some time, but I could see what was going on between him and Kristiane, and she could barely contain the joy of seeing him again. Well, until now…

A hollow and false upbeat voice greeted me, “Hello, Terrence. Everything’s good here. How are you?”

“There’s no time for fucking niceties when you’re playing where you shouldn’t!” Seeing my best friend, my sister, my other half, my soul mate in tears, who usually kept her emotions on the inside, ripped me in half, and skewered me right down the middle. There was no way any man was going to do that to her again, and certainly not the one I’d thought was for her.

“Says the man who kissed his best friend at uni and strung her along for ten years…”

“Exactly right! I put her through hell, and there’s no way that I’m subjecting her to that again. What the fuck are you playing at, Thomas?”

“I’m not. Put her back on the phone please, Terry.” A steely stern tone crept into the command, and the pleasant manners were anything but.

“No fucking way. I’m the king of bad decisions and can spot them from 2500 miles away.”

Tom heaved a sigh, his lady love heartbroken and his best friend piping angry. I heard the despondency and the helplessness he felt being so far away. “Terry, please listen to me. I love her. You know that.”

“Then stop fucking with her emotions, because she loves you. She’s always waiting for you to change your mind and push her away again, always waiting for the other shoe to drop. And you just chucked it.”

“Terry, I didn’t! I thought the Allen project would be in New York…”

“And she’s a convenient fuck away!” I spat out angrily. I couldn’t ignore the obvious reasons he was swinging back into town. It was too obvious.

“Terry, it’s not about that. Don’t you dare cheapen what Kristiane and I shared! You don’t know! You weren’t there!”

I scoffed at the defense. I knew enough. I put my best friend back together in the weeks following his departure. “I was there!”

“Terry, she’s got my watch.”

I stopped short in my offense, and my brotherly vibe for Kristie to hear what my friend was stating. “The Hiddleston watch?”

“The Hiddleston watch. I gave it to her when I left.”

Okay, a minor appeasement, and I’ll cut him a bit of slack. I didn’t know about the watch. I knew how much he valued it and his plans for the future with it, so there was no way I could write that off as nothing, or accuse him of flying into town just to get laid.  “So… this call…”

The man sounded broken when he admitted, “I don’t think I can fit in a stop in New York to see her before I ha-“

“Yes, you will, Tom. You have to fit Kristiane into your life.”

“Terry…”

Coolly, collectively, surely, I stated, “Thomas. Find a way. You’ve put her on a roller coaster ride from hell. Get her off the ups and downs. Sacrifice for her.”

“I’m closing on my place in Lon-“

“Tom, the house will be there, the career will be there, but the girl might not be. Sacrifice for her. And for God’s sake, don’t ignore that she’s here.”


End file.
